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Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Summary

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Rituals are a part of what makes a society. In order to understand someone of a different sociological background you must think outside of the box. Culture is typically based on rituals in which culture defines its reality and acceptable behavior and chooses its authorities. Rituals are typically described as what you do on a regular basis, which is repeated for a long period of time. In the article ‘Body Ritual Among the Nacirema’ written by Horace Miner he goes on to describe the culture and rituals of the Nacirema. A group of North Americans that are found “between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.” Throughout the article he describes American rituals from an outsiders point …show more content…

I have never been able to understand our culture in an outsider point of view as well put as Horace had done. I felt as though I was reading about an indigenous group of people and how they lived their everyday lives. I had much sympathy for those people while reading the article. It was impossible to believe that people lived like that. Until towards the end of the article I realized that the author was describing my own society and how our everyday lives are lived. It was a bit hard for me to wrap my mind around. Horace was right when describing the temple also known as our hospital. It’s a shame that we must pay to be seen even when extremely ill and pay to leave. I never liked that idea when going to the emergency room, knowing that in about an hour there would be a bill collector coming to your room while you are in pain to collect. The author also describes how much appearance is important to us. In what point of time did we allow our society to tell us what is and is not beautiful. People worried about what others would say or losing friends because their teeth are not perfect or they are not skinny enough. Your appearance should not take away from the person you are on the inside. We entrust dentist and plastic surgeons to cause pain to our bodies to meet societies expectations of beauty and spend thousands in the

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After reading “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” I believe the Nacirema are the Americans. First Nacirema is American spelled backwards. I also think it is America because it said “North American group living… Little is known of their origin, al- though tradition states that they came from the east.”

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Jennine Selina G. Boado 11418877 INTHROP Reading #2 Body Ritual among the Nacirema Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” discusses the magical beliefs and practices of the North American group called “Nacirema”. By re-reading the article I have found out that Miner created this article to by using symbolization to look at the “vanity” of the lifestyle of the Americans and to provide an outside point of view of the “Nacirema” or “American’s” culture. From the article, Miner characterizes the Naciremas as highly focused on their appearance and health which signifies American’s obsession with their personal apperance. Their fundamental belief, according to Miner is that the “human body is ugly and the only way to avert these characteristics is through the use of rituals and ceremonies”.

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Body Ritual of the Nacirema by Horace Miner is a clever piece that describes a foreign sounding culture only to be realized that the group being described is one that is much more familiar. Through his process of describing conventional habits or “rituals” in an unconventional way, he allows the reader to look at this culture through a very unique lens. The Nacirema are the Americans and a representation of the American culture. Although this might not be immediately apparent to the reader, there are a number of hints throughout the text to help come to this realization.

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In Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, Horace Miner develops a weird, quirky society called the Nacirema that is made up of natives who go about their day doing odd rituals and tasks. The purpose of the story was to have people judge other cultures less harshly by making them step back and think about what they were perceiving. Additionally, Miner calls attention to how similar cultures are from region to region without even knowing. Sociologists from the perspectives of functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interaction would interpret Nacirema society differently and in a unique way. Throughout the story Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, many ideas that align with the three theoretical perspectives are blatantly displayed by the Nacirema natives.

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Body Ritual among the Nacirema was written by Horace Miner in 1956. This piece was crafted as an excellent accumulation of the techniques of ironic, symbolism and use of a didactic tone that made this piece a great success. An example of where irony is used in the text is the way he makes us see the tribe as foreign and exotic and we judge it, but then we realize that Nacirema is American spelled backwards and the reader see that it is not a foreign tribe - but indeed the modern American people themselves. There is also mass irony around Notgnihsaw and the chopping down of the cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided, because Notgnihsaw spelled backwards is Washington. Miner is using irony because America is supposed to be built on

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In Gary Soto’s short story “The Talk” he reveals how society values appearance way too much. The main characters discuss about how their appearance affects their self-esteem, mindset, and their future jobs. The characters start out discussing their appearance and call themselves ugly, “We were twelve, with lean bodies that were beginning to grow in weird ways. First, our heads got large, but our necks wavered, frail as crisp tulips” (par.2). The boys talk about their appearance as if they were really awkward when in reality they probably don’t look like the way their describing themselves.

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Horace Miner, the author of “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, used very interesting and descriptive choice of words to describe the routines that modern Americans go through from an outsider point of view. He gives different terms to describe mundane routines, like brushing your teeth, and exaggerate the details as something that is bizarre. Some rituals Miner described as illogical because there was a low rate of success in what they are trying to achieve. This reveals that what determines something to be socially acceptable is not through logic, but only though the popularity of the community. One of the rituals that Miner described as illogical but everyone still do the ritual was the fact that the people kept going to the “holy-mouth-man”, or also known as the dentist, even if their teeth are still decaying.

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I believe part of the reason a vast amount of the people reading Miner’s book would not recognize America as Nacirema is the language he uses in describing the ways the people do their “rituals”. Many people take medicine, brush their teeth, go to the dentist, and go to the hospital but it is the way they think about it and how Miner describes it that do not line up in their

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As a result, even anthropologists are likely to face difficulties in accurately representing a group of people. In Body Ritual Among the Nacirema we are exposed to “the problem of representation.” Horace Miner “represented” Americans by writing about them and interpreting their behaviors. Miner’s representations of the American, or in this case “Nacirema,” culture most likely differ greatly from the way we would represent Americans. As we saw in Who are the Nacirema?

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Body Ritual of the Nacirema written by Horace Miner is a mocking summary of what most Americans do in regards to their health routines. Looking closely at the word “Naciremas”, we can see that it is “American” spelt backwards. Miner takes the approach of explaining the body ritual among the Nacirema from an outsider’s point of view, with no real understanding of the American culture. Miner describes Americans as “magic-ridden people” (Miner 2009, 507).

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The Nacirema practices consist of magic driven rituals and ceremonies that shape human behaviour. The rituals and ceremonies establish Horace Miner’s view of Nacirema as American spelt backwards. Initially, the Nacirmea culture originates from the Canadian Cree, Yaqui, Tarahumare of Mexico, the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. The origin comes from the natives who first landed in America. However, the culture Nacirema comes from the hero Notgnihsaw, who initially is Washington, spelt backwards is the first president of the United States.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

Don’t ask why it is necessary that you duck boots, just get them. They are not really that fashionable, and they are very expensive. Everyone else has them, though, so I have to get them, no doubt about it. In the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, by Horace Miner, American culture is satirized due to the way some practices and beliefs are so deeply indoctrinated into us that the American people fail to recognize how strange all of them really are. In “1848: When America Came of Age,” by Kurt Andersen, American society from the 19th century, most specifically the year 1848, is described by a series of movements and the emergence of the many beliefs that dominate American culture.

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This article by Horace Miner is, in a way, a comparison that is used to describe the American society. After reading the article for a couple of times, I came to realize that the name of the tribe, Nacirema, is American spelled backwards. Article also states that the tribe and its culture are characterized by highly developed market economy, which is also characteristic of the economy of the Unites States. What is so unusual for civilization living in such advanced economy and market are their rituals and traditions. The people from Nacirema culture pay great attention to their health and were ready to deal with irrational pain levels and procedures to achieve health and great looks, just like we are nowadays.

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581 Words | 3 Pages

Horace Miner’s use of irony, satire, and invective help the piece succede. If the author did not use all three of these satiric devices, the paper would not make sense. Throughout the paper, the author uses these three devices which make the reader laugh. It also helps us to understand the article. First off, the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, the author states “...Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise known for two great strength- the throwing of a piece of wampum across the river Pa-To-Mac and the chopping down of a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided.”

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811 Words | 4 Pages

In the study called Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, the author calls the rituals and ceremonies the people perform “excessive”. They are insane rituals that people in America wouldn’t seem to think about doing. They sound so different, and unusual. As one reads the fieldwork, it raises a lot of questions and concerns. To anyone from another country it would seem these rituals are excessive because of the way they are performed, and the things they use to perform them.

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